01/12/09 Early January snowpack

Well the experts have been to all the measuring sites recently and things are looking good in terms of snowpack. I had a recent chat with Ron Abramovich, an official with the USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service: (Sparks)"We had a very slow start to the snow season but you're saying because of the recent snow activity that we're caught up? (Abramovich) That's correct. Boise Basin right now is about average and most of the rest of the state range from 110% of average in the Bruneau Basin to only 75% up in the Panhandle. We had a tremendous amount of precipitation during that 2-week period so it seems like we should be well above average but we had a lot of catching up to do because the first half of December was so dry." (Sparks) How about the rest of the season? (Abramovich) "Right now we appear to be in a wet cycle as the storms continue to come in through the Pacific NW and right into Idaho. If we were down in the 4 corners or desert SW, I wouldn't be so optimistic. They're drying out already. What we hope is that the storms continue because we still need normal or better precipitation to reach average levels on April 1st." (Sparks) Can that happen? (Abramovich) "If we have a near normal snowpack on April 1, then we should be able to get through this year and many of the reservoirs will fill."